Merkel, PM 'agree to disagree' on settlements

German chancellor warns Netanyahu against 1-sided moves; 2 "agree to disagree" on plans to build in E1 corridor.

4 minute read.

Merkel and PM 370.
(photo credit: GPO)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel on
Thursday that actual construction in the controversial E1 corridor between
Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim will not take place for years.

Israel’s
announcement to further plans there was in direct response to the Palestinian
Authority undercutting the Oslo Accords with its recent bid at the UN, he
added.

Netanyahu said one of the foundations of the accords was that
disagreements would be settled through negotiations, not unilateral
action.

The prime minister told Merkel that if negotiations with the
Palestinians move forward, the construction would take place as part of a final
agreement – since in all previous understandings, everyone understood that area
was to remain under Israeli control.

Netanyahu, during a press conference
with Merkel, described E1 as a “small corridor” between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh
Adumim.

“Successive governments from Yitzhak Rabin on down to my
predecessor, Mr. [Ehud] Olmert, have also said that this will be incorporated in
a final peace treaty between Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The curious thing is that
most governments who have looked at these suggestions, these proposals over the
years – including the Palestinians themselves as revealed in leaked documents –
understand that these blocs, these arrangements are going to be part of Israel
in a final political settlement of peace.”

“So I have not changed the
policy. This is a consistent policy.”

Merkel said that she and Netanyahu,
who met for the second time in two days on Thursday, had an “open discussion
between friends. Everything was on the table. On the settlement issue we agreed
to disagree.”

The German chancellor said they had discussed the E1 issue,
and she had expressed her opposition to it.

“We in Germany believe the
work on a two-state solution must be continued... we must keep trying to come to
negotiations and one-sided moves should be avoided,” she added.”

At the
press conference, Netanyahu disputed the notion that Israel had effectively
“lost Europe” after the Palestinian vote at the UN, where 14 EU states voted to
upgrade the Palestinian status, 12 – including Germany – abstained, and only the
Czech Republic voted against.

“I don’t think we lost Europe when we had
virtually universal support for our defensive operation in Gaza against the
rocketing of our civilians by Palestinian terrorists,” he said.

“There is
obviously a difference of view in Europe on the issue of settlements because
most Europeans believe that the issue, the root cause of our conflict with the
Palestinians, is the settlements.

“The settlements issue is one that has
to be resolved in negotiations, but it is not the root cause of our conflict,
because this conflict was waged from the areas adjacent to Israel for 50 years
before there was a single settlement.” Netanyahu said he has not given up on the
diplomatic process with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and proof
of that was his presence in Berlin and his work with Merkel on seeing how to
possibly advance a “realistic peace.”

Netanyahu, who met for some
three-and-a-half hours with Merkel Wednesday night and then held a working
meeting with her Thursday morning, praised her and Germany for their
support.

“I know, and I heard it again yesterday and today, how important
to you is the relationship between Israel and Germany,” he said. “You said it’s
not just another relationship; it’s a special relationship and it’s deeply felt
that you deeply feel it.”

The prime minister said he had “no doubt
whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to the
well-being of the Jewish state.”

In addition to the settlements and the
Palestinian issue, Netanyahu said he and Merkel discussed the changing Middle
East, Iran and the need “to ensure that Syria’s stock of chemical weapons is not
used or does not fall into the wrong hands.”

Before leaving Germany,
Netanyahu went to Platform 17 at Berlin’s Grunewald Station where some 55,000
Jews were deported to concentration camps during the Holocaust.

“Over our
history, the attacks have always come in two waves,” Netanyahu said, noting that
the better known “wave” included physical assaults, expulsions, pogroms and
murders.

“But there was always a prior wave of blood libels and terrible
defamations against the Jewish people,” he added. “Our people were helpless
against these two elements, but today we have established a state of our own,”
he said. “The IDF and the security forces defend our people from those who would
try to destroy us, and the government of Israel, like all of its predecessors,
tells the truth of Israel to the nations of the world.”

Netanyahu’s visit
to Germany was within the framework of the annual joint cabinet meetings the two
countries hold. He was accompanied by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Finance
Minister Yuval Steinitz, Agriculture Minister Orit Noked, Science and Technology
Minister Daniel Herschkowitz and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, all of
whom held meetings with their counterparts as well.

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